The Ball is Round

At the moment the award could go to... Alcorcón. The club playing in Segunda B (the regional leagues below the second divison) beat Real Madrid 4-0 in the Spanish Cup tonight. Must have been a second string Real Madrid I hear you say. Well, not their strongest eleven perhaps, but you'd still have a thought a side featuring the likes of Raúl, Benzema, Gago, Diarra and Albiol would've been enough to see off a team playing in the third tier of Spanish football. Guti and Van Nistelroy came on in the second half in an effort to limit the damage but to no avail. Plenty of work still to be done by Pellegrini and his new batch of Galacticos before they become invincible then. As always in these situations - congratulations to the victors of Alcorcón as their achievement will be overlooked in favour of crisis talk.

The coach of Atlético Madrid must start every new season as favourite to get the chop. Since they last achieved major success in 1995-96, no less than 15 different coaches have come and gone from the Vicente Calderon (and double winner Radi Antic was manager on no less than three seperate occasions!).

Atlético have finished 4th the last two seasons, qualifying for the Champions League in the process. Those have been their best finishes since 1996. The lowest point came at the turn of the millenium when, despite winning the cup, the club was relegated to the second division. It was dubbed their “year in hell”, but it proved to be a two-year stay when they failed to gain promotion at the first attempt. Atlético fans must feel as if they’ve been tossed back into the inferno so many times since then.

Massive underachievement sums it up. Especially when they are frequently among the biggest spenders in La Liga. Despite having two of South America’s top strikers on board (Forlan and Agüero), the start to this season has been disastrous. Their Champions League performances so far, a home draw with Apoel of Cyprus, a 2-0 defeat in Porto and a thrashing (4-0) at Stamford Bridge make recent Old Firm performances in Europe look respectable by comparison.

Defeat in London was the final straw for Abel Resino. He has been replaced by Quique Sánchez Flores who was at the Vicente Calderón last night to watch his new side struggle at home against Mallorca. Despite being handed two penalties and the oppostion receiving two red cards, the match ended in a 1-1 draw after a dramatic equaliser at the death for the visitors.

Languishing in the bottom half of La Liga, Atlético could find themselves close to the relegation zone again after all this weekend’s matches are played. Flores’ first match in charge will be a cup match in Marbella – coincidentally the millionaires’ playground where the Gils (the dubious dynasty which has run the club since the mid-80s) made their name. Current owner Gil Marín recently announced he’d be stepping back from sporting operations. Little surprise that Atlético fans have had more than enough and they again gathered to protest against the board after last night’s dismal draw.

*Pic by Ballis ©2009 Deportivo La Coruña v Atlético Madrid

Remember the name - if you can. Having already scored in the Europa League, Iker Miniain, whose nickname is apparently Bart Simpson, became the youngest player to score in Spain's top division last weekend La Liga at the age of 16 years 297 days. That beats the previous record of Xisco Nadal (Villarreal) by eight weeks. Also, to help put it in perspective, Wayne Rooney was just four days short of his 17th birthday when he made a dramatic entrance by scoring for Everton against Arsenal. Rooney no longer holds that record but if these clips of Iker are anything to go by then he could make the same kind of explosive impact.

Ah, the Scottish Cup first round. It's all about taking part, and having a brilliant name:

Irvine Meadow, Dalbeattie Star, Gala Fairydean, Vale of Leithen, Bonnyrigg Rose, Civil Service Strollers, Hawick Royal Albert, Auchinleck Talbot, Inverurie Locomotive Works, Forres Mechanics, Clachnacuddin, St Cuthbert Wanderers, Wigtown and Bladnoch, Whitehill Welfare, Golspie Sutherland, Coldstream, Banks O'Dee...

Want to know how they all got on?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/scot_cups/8276924.stm

If you’d asked me what the chances were of George Burley being kept on after the debacle in Norway, I’d have said they were negligible. But 180 minutes of football later (some of it good and most of it acceptable), he has turned it around – for now.

In reality it’s not that much to go on. Whatever way you want to look at 4 points collected from 6 games against the Netherlands, Norway and Macedonia, it is not good. Never mind the genuinely world class Dutch, does the Scottish team of today have any right to be collecting points in places like Skopje and Oslo? Haven’t they got players every bit as good as ours? The Macedonian forward Goran Pandev would walk into the Scotland team right now. The rest also showed that they know how to pass and move and control the ball during the first half a Hampden. Would George Burley currently say no to John Carew up front? Or John Arne Riise (like Pandev, currently playing his football in Serie A) as left wing back?

Big Joe in the days when Scottish strikers were genuinely feared. And who is that grinning in the background?

The Norwegians have just about as many playing regularly in the English Premier as Scotland does. As the final group placings suggest, there is nothing to choose between the sides. Scotland might have done slightly better against the others but the Norwegians crucially took four points when the two clashed.

Much has been made of that miss by Chris Iwelumo at Hampden and Kenny Miller got some stick last week, but the crux of the matter is that the quality of striker Scotland have available isn’t good enough at this level. Steven Fletcher has done okay for Scotland and contributes to the team but he is not a prolific striker. This is borne out by the fact that he is yet to score in the EPL. Ross McCormack looks promising and is unfortunately injured at the moment. He could have a significant part to play in the next campaign but again is he going to score that many goals? The Cardiff player looks to me to be more the supporting type forward just like S. Fletcher or McFadden. Garry O’Connor is on the fringes at Birmingham and isn’t looking a great danger at that level. His old teammate Derek Riordan is consistently finding the net for Hibs and should be looked at again for the next campaign but there are always question marks over his fitness and work rate. The only out and out striker of any note who has scored a few at this level is Kris Boyd and he doesn’t want to play (at least under the current manager).

In the absence of a Denis Law, Kenny Dalglish or Andy Gray (incredible that the latter only got 20 caps), it’s a pity that Burley can’t go out and pick up a “naturalised Scot”, just like Portugal have done after struggling to score in this campaign. The Brazilian, Liédson has been banging in the goals for Sporting Lisbon for a few seasons and the Portuguese have now turned to him as they are perfectly entitled to do. But as far as I’m aware, even a change of heart by the SFA over naturalised players would throw up little more than Nacho Novo who can't get a game ahead of Kenny Miller at Rangers.

Scotland are not overly endowed with real international class players these days as we all know. But even one notable striker could make the difference between failure and qualification. This is one of the major challenges facing George Burley. Some wanted Gordon Strachan, Craig Levein or Graeme Souness to come in but they wouldn’t be able to conjure up superstars out of thin air either. There’s always the possibility of bringing in Joe Jordan as player manager if the answer isn’t found soon.

I wasn’t surprised to see Scotland lose in Norway although the margin of the defeat was shocking. Surely between them, the SFA and the SPL could have put their heads together and came up with a way of avoiding playing a game that was always going to be crucial, before our players are match fit – and against the Norwegians of all people. The Norsemen of the Apocalypse are halfway through their season. Whoever agreed to this date up must’ve had crystal meth rather than a crystal ball. Don’t get me wrong: during this qualifying campaign Scotland have never looked like a team who deserve to be anywhere near next year’s World Cup finals.

It’s quite likely that Alain (not so mellow with the yellows) Hamar's decision to send off Gary Caldwell merely provided an excuse for defeat. Despite all the talk of a good opening half hour for Scotland (I recall a decent opening ten minutes and one Kenny Miller chance), the Norwegians had already had a penalty claim turned down that Scotland would probably have got had the incident been at the other end at Hampden, and Riise had blasted over when it looked easier to score. It’s difficult to think of a Scotland player who did himself justice. I had quite high hopes for Fletcher and Brown in this game after their opening competitive club performances, but both were posted missing throughout. McFadden looked as if he might spark something for a brief 10 minute spell at the start of second half. Commons was probably Scotland’s only lively looking player other than that. The Derby midfielder had a good second half under the circumstances but he looked about the only one who hadn’t given up the ghost by then.

Credit to Norway for taking full advantage and really going for the jugular at times but I can’t help feeling that any side serious about playing in next year’s World Cup could still have come away with a draw last night – even with ten men. Instead, we witnessed the most inept defending and naivety since Bertie was in charge. There’s more to this than George Burley but unless he can double his two wins (both over Iceland) in what’s left of this campaign, then it’s hard to see how anybody could feel inspired enough to hold onto him beyond September.

Enough has been said about Barcelona but what about other Spanish league matters? Real Madrid have reinstalled Florentino Pérez as president. His first major move has been to replace Juande Ramos with Manuel Pellegrini. Ramos was going great guns with RM until the spectacular 6-2 collapse against Barcelona – the start of an extraordinary run of 5 consecutive league defeats which put paid to any hopes the former Spurs’ coach had of getting the job on a permanent basis.

The only surprising thing about the appointment of Pellegrini is that he has taken so long to get a job with one of Spanish football’s giants. The Chilean has had Villarreal playing great football for years and he deserves the chance to see what he can do with even better resources.

Barcelona will be joined in the Champions league once again by Sevilla and Atlético Madrid (assuming the latter get through the qualifiers). Villarreal will play in the UEFA along with Valencia who just held off the challenge of Deportivo La Coruña. The Galicians had a very good season after spending very little compared to the teams abovre them. Depor coach Lotina said it has been his most satisfying season as a manager despite achieving cup success and Champions League football with Espanyol and Celta respectively.

These two clubs have had contrasting ends to the season. Espanyol produced an amazing run of results towards the end of the season to finish mid-table after being bottom and looking doomed just a few short months ago. Their feat has been overshowed by their neighbours but Espanyol can now look forward to inagurating their new stadium (near Barcelona airport) in the top flight come September.

Espanyol's new stadium at Cornellà-Prat.

Celta on the other hand are in danger of freefall. The Spanish second division has a few weeks still to run and the Vigo club are in danger of slipping out of Spanish football’s second flight. They have a crucial game in Vigo against relegation rivals Alavés at the weekend and a win would go a long way towards helping Celta stay up. However, it looks very likely that one of these two clubs who were playing European football not so long ago will end up in the third division.

Whichever one survives the season will be joined in Segunda A by Real Betis. Looking at the permutations last weekend, it appeared very unlikely that the green and white giants from the banks of the Guadalquivir would go down, but results conspired against them and there will be no league derbies in Seville next season.

Betis will be joined in Segunda by Numancia and Recreativo with Xerez, Tenerife and Zaragoza looking likely to replace them among the elite.

*Ballis will probably be putting his feet up for the summer to watch some tennis and golf but might be tempted to write the odd post about the Scottish managerial merry-go-round or any other fun at the fair. Have a good summer!

Burnley are on their way to Wembley after comfortably disposing of Reading in the Championship play-offs. Nothing against Sheffield United but I’d like to see the Lancashire club return to England’s top flight. They haven’t been there since I was a little kid so I suppose my reasoning is partly nostalgic.

However, Owen Coyle appears to have done a fantastic job since he left Perth for England’s North West. He also has a number of Scottish players there: Graham Alexander, Steven Caldwell, Kevin McDonald and the injured Russell Anderson.

I haven’t seen Burnley play this season but I understand they are a good footballing side and look forward to watching the final. It should be an interesting game against Sheffield United who I thought looked quite powerful and direct in their deserved win over Preston.

I was also amused this week by the following clip featuring a disabled fan celebrating Alexander’s first leg penalty against Reading. It reminded me of an old Alf Garnett sketch and there is the added coincidence that both support teams that play in claret and blue.

There might be a Champions League semi final on tonight but I’ll be more interested in hearing the result of the SFA Youth Cup Final. Having clinched the league title last weekend, Hibs under-19's are going for the double.

Hibs face Rangers - the current holders of the trophy and finalists three years running. The Ibrox side are much criticised for not briniging through enough youngsters from their Murray Park complex. It would appear that the talent is there but Rangers generally have more readies available to dip into the transfer market for an established player rather than persevering with youngsters.

On the other hand, seven of tonight's Hibs squad have already been given new contracts and been told they will move up to join the first team next season. The question is when boss Mixu Paatelainen will give them a chance. My impression almost a year and a half into his tenure is that he prefers to sign and play seasoned journeymen ahead of some of his young talent.

But Ewan Moyes and Sean Welsh are a couple you might see in the Hibs first team over the next season or two. And Kurtis Byrne is a name that could feature soon in the SPL scoring charts. He’s the son of former Celtic player, Paul Byrne, and Hibs snapped him up from Norwich City a couple of years ago.

They might have to wait a while however, as slightly older Hibs players like Darren McCormack and Paul Hanlon are struggling to feature regularly for Hibs despite making the breakthrough into the Scotland under-21 squad.

It’s part of summer as sure as the days get longer. When the season is over and Scottish sports columns need to be filled up with football stories, we get talk of either an Atlantic League or the possibility of the Old Firm moving to the English leagues. Could the latter happen?

Well, I think it’s quite likely one day. Basically, where there’s a will there’s a way. It’s become quite clear over the years that it’s a proposition which leaves many associated with the Old Firm licking their chops.

The Scottish summer has come early this year and not just because of some decent weather. Bolton chairman Phil Gartside has raised the possibility of Celtic and Rangers joining a two-tier Premiership. UEFA have as good as said it is not their business and the matter will be discussed at the EPL’s annual general meeting in June.

The EPL doesn’t really need the Old Firm at the moment, but there will come a time when they look to spice things up and generate new interest. This would be one obvious way. It would seem that the possibility has a long way to go but if it does eventually happen where would that leave the SPL?

I was surprised to read in a poll in the Daily Record that currently says that almost 56% think that Scottish football would be better off if the Old Firm moved to England. First of all, we should be clear that many readers of the Daily Record are Old Firm fans. Are they voting yes simply because they wan the Old Firm to go to the EPL or do they really believe the rest of Scottish football would be better off without them?

Secondly, it has to be asked what is meant by better off? If they mean financially richer then I think the answer has to be a resounding No for current SPL clubs. Television and sponsorship money would be harder to come by and that’s almost bread and butter these days.

It might be more difficult to attract better players from outside the country as a few visits a season to the Ibrox and Celtic Park must be one of the big attractions of playing in Scotland. The shop window aspect of attracting a bigger club would also be somewhat reduced and even the odd Champions League qualifier isn’t likely to be that much of a carrot.

Leaving aside the politics of such a shakeup could affect the status of the national team, there are other respects in which the Scottish game would go on much as normal. For instance, many of Scotland’s better players have always ended up in Glasgow or England anyway, so what’s the difference there?

If by “better off” we mean more competitive and more interesting then I think that would be the case without a doubt. And some of the bigger remaining clubs: Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts, Hibs (and possibly two or three others on the odd occasion), might be able to call upon healthy crowds because they could challenge for the league championship. It might also leave the door open for league reconstruction and a return to a bigger league. Top flight football could help clubs like Dundee, St. Johnstone, Partick Thistle, Dunfermline, Morton and Livingston or Queen of the South.